23 August 2005

Grandma & Grandpa Main

This is the grave marker for my dad's mom and stepfather who are buried in Hastings, Michigan. It is amazing what we learn about a person after they have passed over. Images and secrets come uncovered. It also helps that I am into genealogy, so I can remember them as loving grandparents, but also see their flaws as wonderfully interesting humans.

Marjorie Helen Hynes Count was a widow with 3 children when she met Dale Main, Senior. Dale was married at the time with a son, Dale Main, Junior. Marjorie and Dale started dating while Dale was still married to his second wife.

Dale's mother was Irish while his father was Iroquoi. Dale's grandfather was cheif of the Iroquoi, but Dale's father had to make a choice between marrying a "white" woman or being cheif.

My dad was 11 years old when his mom married Dale Main on 8 December 1951. Dale and Marjorie proceded to have 3 more children. When my dad was 14, his mother made him sign over the farm to sell it...the farm my dad's biological father left him. The money went for a trip to Arizona and so Dale could start a glass making company which my dad worked in. This did not last long though, and the family ended up in Michigan and my dad continued working while my grandparents ended up on Social Security.

I remember as a child, my grandfather's mother living with my grandparents also. She never went into a nursing home. She lived with my grandparents, and then she moved to a little cottage on Uncle Carl's land very close to the main house. That is where she died.

My grandmother, unfortunately, did not have that same luxury. After her stroke, she was put into a nursing home. My grandmother wanted to escape from the nursing home, and complained how bad the food was. She was on a diet because of her diabetes.

My grandfather (my dad's step dad), died at home. He got up to go to the bathroom. He just dropped. The coroner said he was dead before he hit the ground. My grandfather wore a pacemaker, and the pacemaker just stopped.